Water vapor permeation behavior of interfacially polymerized polyamide thin film on hollow fiber membrane substrate

• Modification of inner surface of PSf HF membrane by interfacial polymerization.
• m-phenylenediamine and TMC concentration was varied to form a thin polyamide layer.
• Effect of monomer concentration on membrane physical properties was investigated.
• Water vapor permeation tests were carried out to test performance of TFC membrane.
• High water vapor permeability and selectivity was obtained at optimum conditions.

Thin film polyamide layer was formed by reaction between MPD and TMC on the inner surface of polysulfone (PSf) hollow fiber membranes (HFM). Concentrations of both the aqueous and organic monomer were varied in order to study the effect on physical properties such as surface morphology, hydrophilicity, roughness and thickness of polyamide layer. Physical properties were evaluated using FTIR, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and water contact angle. The water vapor permeation performances of composite HFM were tested and it was observed that monomer concentration drastically affects the water vapor permeance and selectivity. Not only polyamide layer thickness, but also the hydrophilicity, and structure of the polyamide layer affect the water vapor permeance and selectivity. Increase in MPD concentration caused increase in water vapor permeance while on the other hand TMC concentration had adverse effect on the permeance. Maximum water vapor permeance (1500 GPU) and selectivity (500) were obtained by using 2.0 w/v% MPD and 0.25 w/v% TMC for interfacial polymerization. In the end, MATLAB simulations were carried out in order to estimate the membrane area required to achieve 60% water vapor removal efficiency for real site 10 MW coal fired power plant.

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